


Sonata of Searching

by Anaya_of_Wolves



Series: Healing a Heartsong [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Desperate Searching, Gen, Implied Soriku, Inspired by Music, Loneliness, Mentions the Ending, Musical References, Nightmares, Not Re:Mind DLC compliant, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Riku (Kingdom Hearts)-centric, Sadness, Searching for Sora, Searching for answers, Trying to find the Truth, Unknown Creature(s), connection to an Original World, hinting at feelings on Riku's side of things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 01:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19052575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anaya_of_Wolves/pseuds/Anaya_of_Wolves
Summary: Riku thought that, once they defeated Xehanort and the Organization, then finally they would all get some peace from that dark scheme.  But, as Riku watched Sora leave to rescue Kairi from somewhere the other had believed he could go to save her, Riku realized that it wasn't going to be that simple.  That their happy ending, the ending they deserved after fighting for these past few years, wasn't going to become true for not only him, but Sora and Kairi too.  Waiting for them to return, waiting for Sora to return with a bright grin on his face, turned into the longest days passing for Riku.  Not knowing when he would come back, not knowing how, all of that was something weighing so heavily on his heart.And then this sad song in his heart turned sour even further.





	Sonata of Searching

**Author's Note:**

> Wow guys! I can't believe I finally got this one done too! Just took about a month, which honestly I think it is a record for both the length of writing and to get a sequel out without waiting a year and a half. But I am still so proud of myself! This is what I really wanted to start writing half-way through Nascent Song, since this would involve Riku and his sad feelings, and kind of give an insight on what is happening on his side of things. Some stuff also happens that is leading towards the main plot of what is going on too, so I am happy about that. There is something going on, not just randomly putting Sora in a new world! I can't wait to write more and show you the next part of the story. I don't know when I'll start writing it and have it done, since I still don't have much of an outline for it. But no worries, I'm sure it'll come to me!
> 
> This runs concurrent to Nascent Song, so keep that in mind while reading. It is also Riku-centric, just how the other was Sora-centric. I tried to not make it so sad, but guess what! It got sad in some parts, but only because Riku is trying so hard to find Sora. Also, the implied feelings are implied, though if you don't want to think of them, then you can in this fic. Of course, that will change later on, but just know that I am writing this with the mindset that these two dorks definitely feel something for each other. That something may or may not being helping them~ Who knows~

_ The heart can think of no devotion _

_ Greater than being shore to the ocean-- _

_ Holding the curve of one position, _

_ Counting an endless repetition. _

 

-”Devotion” by Robert Frost

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

It took one beat of heart to know that Sora was gone, from this world and into whatever abyss he dove into to save Kairi.

It took two beats of his heart to know that Sora wasn’t going to immediately return to his side, like he should have after all that they have went through.

It took three beats of his heart to know that it was a mistake to have let him go alone, even if he had said to let him go and believed wholeheartedly that he  _ would _ return back to them.

It took four beats to feel the painful agony of separation, of losing someone who meant so much to him and his heart.

Five beats made him feel as though his heart was beating against the tides; a losing battle against the pain and fear of having lost the brightness he cherished.

Six beats, and Riku thought that his heart would never stop beating when it should have when Sora and the bright connection between their hearts left.

Seven beats…

“Riku?”

Riku looked away from the sky; now filled with the starry expanse instead of a looming, lunar heart-shaped threat.  He felt lost when looking upon them, like the feeling of lost at sea. He felt lost when he looked to one of his dear friends and felt as though he lost all train of thought.

King Mickey stood at his side once more, looking up at him with a concerned look that Riku couldn’t quite understand.  Moments ago, Mickey had walked away to speak among the others still in the Keyblade Graveyard, checking up on them. But he now had returned and looked so much more worried than when he had walked away.  Why was he so worried? 

Sora was going to come back.

Riku was  _ fine _ .

Mickey’s eyes glanced off to the side then.  “Riku, I don’t think- I don’t think Sora is going to return here.”

Riku’s eyes widened and stared at his friend in shock, mouth parting to ask just he meant by  _ that _ .  His heart felt like it had taken a hard, direct hit and could not beat properly now.  No voice came to him to even begin to voice a thousand words to demand what Mickey had meant by that, why he had thought that, and if the King even knew just what he had told him!

The King quickly shook his head once he finally looked back at Riku, and he waved his hands in front of him.  “No, not like that. I just meant, that I don’t feel like they both are going to return to this world.”

At once, all of the fears and worries receded somewhat away into the darker recesses of his heart when Riku heard the King explain himself.  At least, most of them scurried back to places he did not think about. Because a part of him didn’t want to leave this spot until Sora and Kairi both returned.  None present still knew how long it would take, where they had gone, and where they would end up back. All Riku kew he could do was keep the belief in his heart that Sora would return and hold onto that promise.  It would be the way home of the both of them.

‘ _ Following my heart back, like he always would _ ,’ Riku thought to himself, noticing that Mickey was now smiling to him and realizing the reason for that was because there was a soft smile on his own face.  

There shouldn’t be a smile on his face until he saw the dorky one first from Sora.

The young keyblade master nodded his head, finally giving the King an answer that relaxed him.  Riku looked over to the rest of the group that was still here among the dusty wastelands. It was clear that they had been waiting for Riku and the King, but they were also too polite to do anything else without them.

“Let’s go then and wait for Sora and Kairi to get back,” Riku finally told the King, beginning to walk over to the rest of the keybladers and friends.  

They all looked a bit more relieved as he got closer.  Tense worries and tense shoulders dropped away when it was cleared that there was nothing more to worry about.  This was a victory still. Well-earned and well-received victory, that’s what they all thought. That should have made Riku feel the same, since they had won and suffered no great losses.

But, of course, he couldn’t let his heart enjoy the victory over Darkness when someone was dearly missing from the celebrations...

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

The first night of sleep Riku got after the fated battle resulted in a sleepless night.  Only because he had been awakened from a dreamless void where it felt like he was being enclosed by darkness, swallowed up by it.  Nothing had scared him more, shooting awake and up in his bed and panting. Had he not seen the stars outside his bedroom window and the small faint lights from the other houses nearby, then he would have thought that maybe, just maybe, he had still been in the Realm of Darkness.

His heart pounded like a drum in his chest, reaching a hand up to place over it as though he could physically calm his own racing heart.  But his mind was too much in a spin to be able to focus on calming down now. All he could think about was that abyss, that void of just nothing.

It wasn’t like where Xemnas had dragged them to when they had to battle against him after defeating the first Organization XIII.

This was just nothing, an emptiness that stretched on forever and ever.  No Light, no Darkness, no sound or anything.

That endless void frightened him, and that fear frightened him even further.  

Could he really call himself a Keyblade Master if he was afraid of nothing?  Was there even such a thing to be afraid of about it? 

Riku felt a lost among all of those questions and couldn’t find an answer to them.  All he could think about, over and over, is just the perpetual nothingness that had crowded him, cradled him, and made him feel as though he could have easily slipped away inside of it and just become nothing too.

_ Was that where Sora was? _ , Riku thought, soon feeling a lump choking him.  He coughed and kept coughing as he tried to dislodge the lump of fear that the other could be in an abyss of nothing.  Not able to leave it, being lost forever, becoming nothing, already having become a part of it before he could be saved.

While still coughing and hoping he wasn’t going to awaken his parents, Riku reached over to open his window up.  The moment it was parted enough, a sea breeze swept into his room and reminded him where he was at. Destiny Islands, safe in a room he had grown up and was able to return to due to the help of the one person missing among all the worlds.  He let out a shuddering gasp of air, glancing out the window and absently focusing on the houses dotting among the island. So small, the houses and the island itself, but it was still  _ there _ !  There was something there.

Why did he still feel like there shouldn’t be anything there?  Why did he feel the most misplaced among everyone and everything around here, even if he had lived here his whole life?

Was Sora really lost to him now?  Lost in an abyss of nothing while still searching endlessly for Kairi?

“No, he can’t be,” Riku muttered to himself, refusing to let himself even believe that Sora was lost to them.  He knew having such a doubt wouldn’t help, just allow the creeping and lingering darkness to have a hold once more in his heart.  He wasn’t going to let it, though. “He is going to come back to us, safe and sound with Kairi. He is going to come back smiling and happy, just like he always will be.”

It felt like a song, the way Sora came into a problem or situation and soon found a way to help everyone and fix everything.  The way things played out, even those that they hadn’t expected -which was mostly everything- was still something that couldn’t stop him.  He did what he believed was right and proved that belief time and again. The harmony he created with his Light and his strength of friendship truly felt more powerful than any nothingness or Darkness there could be.  It was incredible to see how he could do something like that, created a deafening consonance that couldn’t be stopped.

Riku ached to hear Sora’s song again right now.  He could feel his chest ache in thought that the other was missing, more now that he thought about the song that he was thinking of.  A song for them, he could faintly recall it.

It felt like a heartbeat, soft and gentle.  It felt familiar like an old, worn path that could not lead them astray.  It was theirs, undeniably so.

Riku tried to recall the beats to the song and found that it came half-made to him.  Incomplete, unfinished. 

Because Sora wasn’t here to finish it, to reassure him that he would be able to finish it by his side.  Without the other, it was as though he had only one Sound Idea, like before. The younger King Mickey had claimed that their combined Sound Ideas made something powerful, a powerful song that was theirs.

Sighing out into the night, Riku laid back down in his bed and continued to stare out the window and up at the stars among the sky.  The many stars in the Other Sky that were many different worlds. All of them saved because of Sora and his heart. He could be out there, Riku knew that, but he could also be somewhere where there were no worlds, no Other Sky.

A silent, dark abyss…

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

Riku was well-versed in keeping a good facade for his friends, so that they would not notice what stirred and churned in his heart like the tides in a windy storm.  He knew that he should talk to them, at least the King, about what he was feeling and how he just couldn’t feel  _ better _ like they seemingly were.  But, there was a part of him that thought they wouldn’t understand what he felt.  They weren’t missing two people who had grown up with them, who were a part of his heart and meant a lot to him.  They all knew of Sora and Kairi, but they hadn’t grown up with them. Their lights were his, and without them here, then it felt like his Light was gone.

“Riku?”

Riku glanced away from the sunset still on the horizon of Destiny Islands to Xion now standing next to him.  He felt a soft pang in his chest in seeing those familiar blue eyes, though still did well to reveal nothing on his face on how he was feeling.  

Xion and the others who shared Sora’s heart had all said that they too felt something not quite right.  Their connections with Sora had weakened to a point that had worried them, though they were confident that he would return alright and with Kairi.  But even Riku saw how Roxas appeared tense at times with a hidden anger at the fact that Sora was still missing for another day -making it two now-.  Xion herself took upon a solemn look whenever she was sure no one could see it. Even Ventus had been softly reassured by both his close friends about Sora’s inevitable return.

Riku could understand each and every one of their worries and fears, feeling each of them.  Sometimes all at once.

If those that had shared Sora’s heart were starting to worry more, then did that mean he should worry even more?  Should he go out and find him himself? Even if he did not know where Sora was, that didn’t mean he should just absently wait-

“...Riku, are you listening?”

Riku swallowed hard, realizing that he had been so preoccupied in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard when Xion had begun speaking again.  He gave her an apologetic look and was ready to apologize. He hadn’t meant to ignore her. His thoughts had caught him in a tide that had carried him out into a sea of worry and fears.

But she just shook her head with a soft, sad smile on her face.  “No, it’s okay. I  _ understand _ .”

Riku stared back at those blue eyes, more like the sky than anything else he could think of, and felt a pang in his heart that made him wonder if he would ever stop feeling hurt.  But knowing his heart and all that he had gone through, he doubted it will. His heart was strong, but only because he had Sora with them through the tough parts. At least, the hope of being back together with him.  But now, that hope was lost among the uncertainties of everything else now after that fated fight.

Was this why no one said what really happens after the end of the fairytale?  Because it would just make the whole story feel like a sad tale if they had to talk about this pain?

“Still,” Riku began to speak, voice rougher than he would have liked, but he didn’t bother to try and fix it, “it was rude of me to ignore you.  I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind after...everything.”

He glanced away from her soft eyes back to the sunset.  He was truly sorry for doing it, and he knew he shouldn’t burden her own sadness at Sora’s and Kairi’s disappearance.  It wouldn’t be fair to her to have to listen to him being sad about everything. But he knew that keeping everything bottled up inside of him wasn’t going to help, and, apparently, so did she think that as well.

“Riku, it’s okay to talk to someone about what you are feeling.”  He felt a hand brush against his arm, a soft touch to convey a gentleness that he didn’t felt as though he deserved it.  “Roxas and Axel are helping me, just as I am helping them. It’s good to talk to friends about the pain you are going through.”

He nodded his head, letting her know that he was listening this time and understood what she meant.  Her words were sound and should be what he should do next. Talking with someone, any of them, would allow him to let out all the trapped feelings inside of him that threatened to swallow him up.  They would be able to understand and help him. All of them, even though Sora befriended them first, were his friends too now. Each and every one of them would do what they could to help him through this pain.

_ But it feels as though my heart is missing and just left behind pain. _

Riku didn’t say that, letting out a soft sigh of air and answering her with a small smile forced upon his lips, “Yeah, you’re right, Xion.  I’ll...think about it. Thank you.” He turned his head somewhat to look at her as he thanked her, seeing a smile back from her that made him feel bad that had previously failed to listen to her.  

However, it appeared that she wasn’t bothered by it, giving him one final nod of her head before turning away to head back up the beach.  He watched her as much as he could over his shoulder, seeing her call out for Naminé and saying something he couldn’t hear at the distance he was at.  

Riku felt a swell of happiness at just the sight of the two looking so happy together, chatting together, that it briefly made him feel as though his heart wasn’t the heavy burden in his chest.  

Maybe he should, talk to someone about what he was feeling.  It certainly would help to start healing the pain he felt, to let it all out with someone and let them help him through the pain.  He remembered Sora saying something similar a while back, which was why he also knew that it might not really work without the other keyblader with a smile like sunshine.

“Look!” someone, Riku hadn’t been paying close enough attention to realize who, cried out and directed all of their attentions over to the small, separate play island.

After snapping his head over to see what had been called out, Riku began to see something shimmer on the bent papou tree in the sunset light.  One figure with burning red hair could easily be seen from even where he stood, and soon the spiky hair of the other formed right next to her. 

It was them!  

Sora and Kairi were back!

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the sight and as his mind began to barely process the sight.  But he definitely could see them, just as everyone else apparently could as well. 

So, Riku wasted no time to start taking a step and another over to the island to greet his once-missing friends.  He couldn’t wait to ask them what happened, where they had been, how they were, and to just be relieved that they had come back safe and sound.  Just being able to see Sora made a worry that had buried itself in his heart lessen more and more. It was really telling just how much he had missed him once the hurt began to fade away.

The light belonging to the one who had been lessening the hurt in his heart began to shimmer still and start to fade.

Riku’s eyes widened in fear, seeing it and almost not being able to take another step.  But as it continued, he pushed himself to hurry over. Maybe he could stop the other from leaving, maybe it was just a trick of the light.

But Sora couldn’t leave him again!  He just couldn't!

As Riku climbed his way up the small islands, feeling his lungs burn as well as his eyes, Kairi meet his worried and fearful look with her own sad and resigned one.  

She was the only one there.  

Riku still valiantly looked around for Sora, but there was no sign of him at all up here with her.  He had to be here! He just had to be! It wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t be, since he promised to return back with Kairi.  Back to-, back to-

Then he noticed the tears rolling down Kairi’s face and felt ones start to fall down his own cheeks.  He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to believe Sora wasn’t here with her after everything he had done to save them all.  He shouldn't have been punished for doing that. Sora was a light for them all, shining bright even in the darkest spots that there ever could have been.  That Light, that felt like true light. A brightness to never give up and to bathe in its warmth.

Riku collapsed to his knees, gasping out the sobs in his throat as his brain continued to repeat over and over again:  _ Sora was gone, Sora was gone _ .  He couldn’t stop those thoughts nor could he stop the sobbing.  He felt weak and alone, more than he had ever felt before. No Darkness could cause an aching and crushing hurt in his heart like he felt right now.

Distantly aware, he felt arms wrap around him and saw red buried against his shoulder.  Kairi, she was here, he thought while still crying over Sora. She was too. So, he wrapped his arms around her and continued to cry together.  They both had lost someone who meant so much to them, brought them light into their lives.

But there was a silent spot now for him among them all.

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

Riku couldn’t stop the pain in his heart.

He sat in his room within Master Yen Sid’s tower, absently staring but not really seeing a distant point in the starry field in the sky.  His eyes would blink occasionally, and his chest rose and fell with every breath. But that was all he could muster up the energy to do after so much crying he had done.  He knew Kairi was the same, since he had left her in her room a short while ago. Or maybe it was longer than that, since he hadn’t moved from where he sat now in his own room.

Faintly, the memory of Naminé, Xion, and Aqua going into Kairi’s room reminded him that he hadn’t left her alone in there.  She would have company to remind her and ground her without letting her fall back into the thoughts of wherever that abyss she had talked about was.  

It hadn’t made much sense, and she freely admitted it.  But that’s all that Kairi could remember. She explained that it had felt like nothing, absolutely nothing, before she could feel Sora’s presence and hear him call for her.  After that, things were not as clear for her, before she was soon back on Destiny Islands.

However, she had known in that moment that Sora was not to stay with her or them.

Riku almost hated hearing what happened.

So, he gently left her to be with those that could offer her better comfort and headed back to his room.  The desperate need to be alone crept up and held tight to him. It demanded that he should wallow in his pain, because he allowed for it to happen.  He let Sora go alone to save Kairi. Maybe he could have helped, prevented Sora from being trapped there. Then they would all be happy.

All that was left now was sadness and pain for him.  His heart was heavy with both.

“Sora,” he murmured out softly, hoping beyond all hope that it would carry to the one that was missing and bring him back to them, back to him.

Riku knew he could leave now, go and search for Sora all by himself.  He could find him, just as Sora never gave up looking for him after their first parting with the Door to the Darkness between them.  Even after all that and Castle Oblivion, still Sora kept trying to find him.

Because his heart guided him back to Riku.

What about Riku’s heart?  Could it guide him back to Sora?

At what cost more would it take to find him?

Not that Riku would ever hesitate to pay any price in getting him back.  Any price would be worth seeing the brightness of Sora’s smile and laughter, to be able to get a hug from him, and to hear his name fall from Sora’s lips.  All of that would be worth whatever he would have to give in order to make sure Sora was back with them all.

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

There was a pulsing sound in the darkness of his dreamless sleep.  It almost sounded as though it was a rhythm trying to form itself into the correct order of beats.  Every other beat came out either too heavier than the last or tripped into the next without a long enough pause between them.  Honestly, it was more of a mess than an actual song, but it still continued to try and play out in his sleep.

Riku wondered why he even was dreamlessly thinking of music when part of his heart was missing.

Was this his heart right now?

Riku blinked opened his eyes, seeing the darkness of his room that allowed him to sleep.  There was no true nighttime in the tower, since they were within the special pocket of the Other Sky that was under the control of Master Yen Sid.  But most still tried to keep a normal active and sleep schedule if there was a rising and setting sun.

Riku thought, as he pulled off the thinnest sheet covers, he was the last one remaining here.  After having heard most say their goodbyes through his door, with only Kairi coming in to give him a hug, Riku assumed he was in that regards.  A faint hope rested in his chest that he was. It meant that he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone if he bumped into them. Because everytime he did, without fail, they would give him a sad look and ask the same question that he had answered before -never really with any truth in his answers.

Are you alright?

Of course he wasn’t.

Anyone with eyes could see that Riku was not  _ alright _ .  There was no way he could be alright without Sora being there and not knowing where he was.  Only one of their large group never asked him that question, just giving him a soft look that conveyed no pitiness but a kind support that he had once relied on a while ago.  

Naminé remembered how he had been when Sora had been asleep.  She was the only one who could speak of the time when Riku had felt his lowest, his worst.  Where the thoughts of Sora never returning back to himself haunted Riku with a vengeance. Naminé had provided him an ear to talk to and softly told him that she would do all in her power to restore Sora’s memories.  That alone had gotten Riku through that year, even after the change that nearly ruined his heart once more.

Riku stood up from his bed, ignoring how his body protested the moment, and went over to his door to crack it open just enough to hear if there was any sound outside.  All was quiet. He opened the door up some more and slipped outside of his room.

The Tower was lit as it always was, with small sconces alight with magical, ever-burning fire.  The hum of magic was all around, but Riku had grown use to it, just like the magical broom servants that sometimes wandered about.  Maybe that’s why he didn’t mind staying here, since the constant hum reminded him of the waves crashing into the beach and back out to sea.

Glancing from left to right, it didn’t matter which way Riku chose, since the Tower apparently worked on the whims of magic.  The keyblader knew that if he wanted to go somewhere to just think of it and let the magic take him there.

But now, he had not place in mind within the Tower.

So, he walked down the rug runner and let his thoughts just become white noise enough so that he could head back to his room to fall back to sleep.  His footsteps were silent against the fabric, making no noise. It would have been eerie to some as to how there really wasn’t a sound that was made anywhere in the Tower, and yet it wasn’t  _ silent _ . 

No, the hum of magic lingered in the air and buzzed like fat bumblebees drifting in the wind.

Well, that, and Riku adding to the noise now.  

He had begun to hum out that melody he had briefly heard in his sleep, trying to remember the strange pattern and losing some of it as he did.  A few low beats at the back of his throat preceded a few higher ones just behind his teeth, before it smoothed out into a steady rhythm that rose and dropped at irregular intervals.  It definitely wasn’t a song he was familiar with, but nonetheless the song captured his attention as he gave it sound in the waking world.

Apparently, that was enough too to cause a shift in the hum of magic around him and make a closed door suddenly form a few feet in front of him along the wall.  Riku stopped at it to face it, staring with a confused look as to why it was here in the first place. He stopped humming as he concentrated on why the Tower had thought he needed this room.

The door, like all others in the Tower, was made of the same wooden material and size.  But, unlike the others, this one had a musical note carved into it. It was a sizable bass clef and nothing else.

Riku found the sight of this door and the note carved into it as odd.  There was nothing he needed from any room of music. If the Tower thought that he needed help with his humming, then he really was too tired to deal with any magic towers tonight.

So, the keyblader shook his head, knowing that the Tower wasn’t sentient.  It could, however, understand the emotions of keybladers and their magic. He sent out through his own magic the denial of need for this door and turned around to head back to his room.  Even if he wasn’t tired, he still thought that maybe trying a bit harder to fall back to sleep wouldn’t be a bad idea right now. At least then the Tower wouldn’t make strange doors appear for him when he didn’t need them to.  Unless it provided a way to find Sora, then he wouldn’t care to look.

As Riku walked away, the door that his humming had apparently summoned faded away with a soft string of musical beats that sounded like a resigned sigh.

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

“Riku!” called a familiar sounding voice, making the keyblade master have to physically look to who had called out for him to just make sure he didn’t say the wrong name.  It had happened before, though thankfully it hadn’t been taken as an insult.

Not that Riku had ever seen Ventus take insult with anything or what anyone had said to him.

Roxas, on the other hand, didn’t find it as amusing as Ven did when called the wrong name.  Especially by Riku, having given him several dirty looks afterwards.

“Ven,” Riku greeted back, closing the book shut that his eyes had been skimming instead of reading and putting it back to its proper place on the shelf.  Ienzo had reminded him to keep the books in their proper place, though the scientist hadn’t needed to really remind him more than once. He had asked what Riku had been looking for among some of the books in Ansem the Wise’s study, but Riku hadn’t said for certain what he was looking for.

Any answers to the many questions of Sora’s whereabouts would be the first thing to find.  Other than that, anything to do with an abyssal realm that a heart could get trapped in would be another answer his mind and heart were searching for.  But to explain that to Ienzo meant that it would most likely get back to the King or Kairi, and neither of them did he want to burden with his own quest to find Sora.  

That he had already sworn in his heart to do by himself.

Not because of pride or greed.

But because he felt it in his heart the strongest urge to not wait anymore, to find answers, to finish the victory song that was incomplete with Sora still missing.

His promise to keep Sora safe.

“What are you doing here?” Riku didn’t wait to ask, hoping to direct any attention away from what he had been doing, “Do you need Ienzo or Ansem?”

Ven shook his head, with one side of his mouth curled up into a grin like Riku had told a joke, and instead answered back, “Actually, I was looking for you.  I need to ask you some things and hope that you might be able to learn some things too.”

Riku’s eyebrows shot up with a slight disbelief that Ven would need to talk to him about something that sounded important.  He wouldn’t have thought he would be the blond’s first choice in finding out about answers. But then again, there was a shift in Ven’s eyes from side to side that made Riku even more curious about what exactly Ven had to ask of him.  Something personal, if the other keyblader had to have tracked him down to Radiant Garden. But nothing in his memory served as a clue as to what he would or could even tell the keyblader. They hadn’t exactly really talked before.

“Okay, what is it about-”

“Come on, let’s walk around while we talk,” Ven quickly cut in, grinning now a wider grin that really made Riku feel on edge.  Not there was a sense of darkness about the blond, but there was something Ven wasn’t telling him. Not that Ven was good about even hiding that, with the nervous edge now in the smile he gave Riku.  But Riku didn’t question it, for now.

“Alright, sounds good,” he answered back, nodding and gesturing out for the other to begin.  Ven appeared to have been glad for such a response, soon leading Riku out of the study and down the halls of the laboratory.  Riku still had some uneasy vibes from this place, though he still did not sense any lingering dark presence from any Heartless.

Thankfully, Ven did not lead him furthermore into the labs but instead lead them up and out of there and to one of the many, new-flowering gardens of the castle.  Riku had remembered how Kairi had wanted to visit them, only barely remembering them from her memories.

Now, even though they were brightly colored, it brought a hint of sadness to his heart at the thought of his other best friend.  He had seen her briefly, before they parted, with her still trying to train to get better and he trying to find Sora…

Ven stopped along one of the small paths that they had taken, turning and facing Riku.  They were alone out here, with just the gentle afternoon breeze the only other company along with the myriad of colorful flowers all around.  The beautiful sights typically would put Riku at ease, but that wasn’t an option with Ven looking him with a certain expression. The other keyblader stared at Riku with a hard gaze, as though he was trying to figure out a riddle or mystery.  

Riku stared back and wanted to know just what Ven was thinking and why he was brought out here.

“Hmm,” Ven hummed out in thought, shoulders dropping now.  He said nothing else for a few more seconds of examining silence, before he called out, “Chirithy!”

Riku didn’t know who or what “Chirithy” was and was soon startled by a puff of clouds as a small, cat-like creature on two legs appeared next to them.  He stared at the creature and then to Ven, about to ask just what this was about, before he felt a familiar feeling running through him. He had thought he wouldn’t feel this again unless Sora had needed him to go into his nightmares and eat them, since he was his-

“Oh!” Chirithy exclaimed, hopping once and looking up at the blond, who was now smiling, “You were right, Ven!”  Chirithy then looked to Riku, taking a few steps over with Riku’s confused eyes on them. The creature didn’t come very far up Riku’s legs, but he could still sense the powers had. 

The faint, almost nonexistent mark upon his back pulsed lightly, allowing him to feel the connection that the beings of dreams and nightmares felt among each other.  Riku hadn’t felt it in a while pulse like that and soon began to wonder why he had never seen a Dream Eater like this before.

Just as he was about to ask Ven about Chirithy, he was already telling Riku, “I knew I sensed something familiar about you!”  There was a grin on his face, like he had managed to solve a hard riddle. Riku wasn’t really able to return the smile, but that didn’t stop Ven from continuing on, “It took me a bit and reuniting with Chirithy here to remember exactly what felt so familiar.”

“Oh, well,” Riku didn’t know what really to say to that, not really knowing if he should actually admit to being a Dream Eater if Ven already figured it out, “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it sooner?”

Ven, still smiling, shook his head.  “No, it’s alright. I mean, I wouldn’t have really known until Chirithy helped remind me about our friendship.  But just figuring it out completely wasn’t the only reason I asked you to talk.”

“Oh!” Chirithy exclaimed, obviously knowing what the keyblader was implying and looking up at Ven, “Do you think that is wise, Ven?  I mean, it’s not really something even I can share with you.”

Ven looked down at Chirithy, the smile fading, but now a resolute look appeared on his face.  Whatever he wanted Chirithy to tell Riku looked serious, though something in his gut told him it wasn’t just about his apparent Dream Eater status.  Of course, the only other option, that would involve Ventus and not wanting to talk anywhere public, would be because it was about-

“It’s about Sora, isn’t it?”

Both Chirithy and Ven looked to Riku, who couldn’t be upset with them for hiding information about Sora.  Or, at least he was trying his hardest not to become upset. Because, if they had known something that could have help him, he wanted to know.  Already three days had passed without any sign or way to find Sora, and that was three days too many.

When the other two said nothing, Riku continued on, “Please, whatever it is, I need to know.  I want to find Sora and bring him-”  _ home  _ “-back.”

Chirithy was still looking at Riku, which didn’t help to figure out what they were thinking.  A neutral face of the cat-like Dream Eater revealed nothing about their thoughts until they voiced them to Riku.

“Well, there are still some things I can’t talk about, but,” Chirithy paused, looking down at their paws and rubbing them against the little pouch hanging around their neck, “But Sora is my friend too.  He said that. And I want him to come back to all of his friends.” The Dream Eater looked back up to Riku and nodded.

Riku exhaled softly, giving Chirithy a smile that could have drowned out his whole face from relief.  If the creature could tell him anything to help, then maybe he would be one step closer in finding Sora.  One more step in bringing him back to them.

_ I’m going to find you Sora, no matter where you are at. _

“Do you want to talk alone with Riku, Chirithy?” Ven asked the Dream Eater, looking as though he really didn’t want to not hear anything about Sora but still wanting to respect their privacy.  He waited until the creature shook their head, before he nodded his own back and smiled softly. A look of relief came over his face, for now.

“Well, the last time I saw Sora, his heart wasn’t beating right.”

““Wasn’t beating right”?  What does that mean?” Riku inquired further, worried even more now than he had been before.

“Well, uh, the last time I saw him, he had been scattered from himself.  It was when he went to help your hearts return back from the Darkness. He managed to pull himself back together before making his way back, of course.  But this time, he was disjointed in a different way.”

Chirithy put their paw under their chin, thinking over their next words while the two keybladers shared a look.  Even if they weren’t allowed to know the full truth that Chirithy knew, this already was something to go on and wonder more about.  Being scattered about didn’t seem like a good thing at all, but at least Sora hadn’t stayed that way? Hopefully.

“A dissonant mess,” the Dream Eater finally explained, nodding their head once at seemingly the correct way to word that, “that couldn’t find balance to return back from...where he had been when he met me.  There was no harmony that would allow him to return like the last time he was able to leave. The Light and Darkness of his heart was a mess, as the rest of him. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Then, he just...vanished.”

Chirithy apparently was done with their story, having their voice soften as they spoke those last few words and now quiet.  

Riku couldn’t stop staring at at the creature.  His brain was trying to make sense of what he had just been told.  But nothing about it was quite easy to understand. Part of him wanted to start laughing a bit in minor hysterics, because  _ of course _ this had happened to Sora.  The one who had deserved nothing of the sort to himself, who was always willing to protect those he cared about.  But then, the more he thought about it, it sounded like something similar to what happened with Naminé and Castle Oblivion.  Just, not entirely the same.

“Do you, know where he vanished to, Chirithy?”  Ven found his voice first to ask the Dream Eater, sounding as upset about this as Riku knew any friend of Sora to be upset.  When Chirithy shook their head, the blond’s shoulder slumped and looked downcasted with this news. It appeared that Chirithy hadn’t told him first.

However, now that they had, what was Riku going to do with this information?

It wasn’t really anything to go on, just explained what happened between Sora leaving to save Kairi and her reappearing on Destiny Islands.  Maybe asking her about it might help them find what to do next in order to save Sora. Though Riku didn’t want to put her through any more pain.  Even if that might mean doing this alone, he knew he wouldn’t be alone in his heart.

All their friends were with him in trying to find Sora.  Their faith and belief that Sora would return flowed throughout their connections of the hearts.  With all their hearts wanting the same thing, then Riku felt as though they could. Just like he had given his belief in Sora in the Keyblade Graveyard.

“I’m sorry if that doesn’t help much,” Chirithy apologized, folded ears drooping a bit lower as they truly did look sorry for not providing more help in finding Sora.

But Riku was thankful, very grateful for the help provided.

He shook his head, giving a small smile to the Dream Eater.  “No, no, thank you, Chirithy. Really, thank you. You helped out enough in finding out how to get Sora back.”  Even the smallest detail was enough for Riku, enough for him to know that it wouldn’t be a blind hope in getting Sora back.

Chirithy grinned back at the keyblade master before grinning up to Ven as well.  Even if the blond hadn’t looked like the information had made much sense to him, he still could understand that Chirithy only knew so much.  But it appeared that was enough for Riku, which made him look even more relieved in having told the other keyblader to meet with him and Chirithy.

Riku quickly said his thanks again and a goodbye, armed with the knowledge that he hadn’t known before.  

So, maybe Sora had gone somewhere to fix whatever had happened to his heart.  Maybe Master Yen Sid knew something about a “dissonant heart,” or something similar.  If so, then this might be his biggest break in finding Sora.

As he walked back along the paths between the colorful, flowering gardens of the Radiant Garden castle, Riku reached up to place a hand against his chest.  His heart beat rhythmically under his shirt. It wasn’t his heartbeat that he was feeling for, however. The connection he had with Sora, that connection that had always been with them since they were little, was still faint.  His heart still could not feel Sora at whatever distance he was at. It worried over where he might be, what might have happened, and how he would get him back. All that worry paled in comparison to one thing in his heart that Riku felt stronger than all of that.  Within the last month or so of training, of taking the Mark of Mastery Exam, of recovering and fighting, there was one thing he knew for sure in his heart.

That one feeling would not give in, not now or ever.  It said to Riku:  _ you will find Sora, you will find him, you will bring him back, you will! _

And Riku knew that he would.

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

_ He was awoken in his dreams by the sense of a heavy weight on his chest. _

_ Riku didn’t know he wasn’t awake until he opened his eyes and beheld a bright blue companion that whined right into his face. _

_ “Bounce?” _

_ The very same Dream Eater that Sora had first granted a name and a spot at his side during their Mark of Mastery Exam! _

_ The Meow Wow whined again, lightly licking at Riku’s face, until he finally put his hands up to push the creature away and sat up.  Bounce fell into his lap, whining still before letting out a quick bark. The Dream Eater then pressed its head against Riku’s hand. _

Did Bounce just want pets? _ , Riku thought, doing so for the Meow Wow.  But that didn’t appear to calm the whining creature completely.  Even though the whines had lessen in frequency, there was still a shake that ran through the mostly blue body of the Dream Eater. _

_ That  _ definitely  _ wasn’t a good sign. _

_ “Bounce, what’s wrong?” Riku asked, knowing that the Dream Eater didn’t really speak to him but could give him an impression of what was bothering him, “is it- is it about Sora?” _

_ That got a bit more reaction out of the Meow Wow, who looked back up at the keyblader and began licking his face some more.  Riku sputtered and tried to get Bounce to stop, but soon he realized what the creature was doing and stopped trying to push it away.  It hit him like a shock of a  _ Thunder  _ spell. _

_ Bounce was comforting him. _

_ Bounce knew that Sora was missing and came to comfort him. _

_ “Oh, Bounce,” Riku murmured softly, reaching down to wrap his arms around the Meow Wow and hugging the soft Dream Eater.  Bounce yipped back, pressing its face into Riku’s chest as he continued to hug it. The creature really was of Sora’s own dreams, soft and comforting. _

_ Riku wondered if Sora was alone now without Bounce, if the other was here instead of with the other keyblader. _

_ All the Dream Eaters they had shared back and forth had eventually understood the share “brotherhood” sort-of what Riku was to Sora too.  Riku had felt their understanding that he was Sora’s Dream Eater, just as they were his own and Sora’s. _

_ “I know, Bounce.  I miss him so much too.” _

_ The Meow Wow whined again, a low one that was nearly lost against Riku’s chest.  He could feel the thickening lump in his throat over admitting something simple as that.  So many more tears had fallen before, but now with Bounce, a pure reminder of Sora with him now, Riku couldn’t keep the sadness at bay even in his own dreams.  Hot tears began to drip down his face as he continued to hug the Meow Wow, hiccuping up a breath and then another that turned into a sob. _

_ “I will bring him back, Bounce.  I will,” Riku promised softly against the head of the Dream Eater, hearing a responding “Bar-wow!” from Bounce in acknowledgement of what he said and promised.  Both felt the loss of Sora deeply and weren’t happy until that loss was absent by his presence once more. _

_ As Riku continued to sit there in the unconscious state of his mind and of dreams, he began to hum the dearly familiar tune that he had heard once he and Sora combined their Sound Ideas.  It was a melody that he had been trying to conjure up again and again to at least help him get through the days. It still felt incomplete and unfinished without Sora there. _

_ But Bounce began to make soft noises along with Riku, helping in its own little Dream Eater way. _

_ Riku smiled as he continued to hum out a song that felt like a heartbeat and something deeper. _

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

Riku woke up from his dream last night, remembering the faint sounds that Bounce had made when the Meow Wow comforted him.  He could still somewhat feel the warmth from the Dream Eater in his arms, though soon the feeling faded as he managed to haul himself out of bed to start the morning.  

Another day started, another chance to find Sora.

Riku took to getting dressed and ready within the room he had taken up more of a residence within Master Yen Sid’s Tower.  Just a day or so ago, he was laying in his old and own bed back in his childhood home on Destiny Islands. But now, with the search for Sora consuming most of his time and energy, he felt that the Tower that sat between the realms and the Other Sky would be an easier place to come and go from.

It had felt like so much longer, but even he knew it had been exactly four days since he had last seen Sora.

Riku stretched out his arms after finished dressing for the day, soon heading out of the room and to the library that was hidden away among the magic of the Tower.  He still had yet to travel to the Land of Departure to view the library there that Master Aqua had said contained quite a bit of knowledge about those subjects too. Riku knew that he should take up her offer to look at that library, since he knew that she would want to help him find their missing friend.  However, the feeling of burdening her with this, after she spent ten years in the Realm of Darkness, wasn’t something Riku felt like he should do now. Everyone deserved to go about their lives now how they wanted to.

A part of him always felt still there was something here in the Mysterious Tower that could help lead him to Sora.  Riku didn’t know what it was or what the feeling was pointing him to, but ignoring such a feeling wasn’t something he was going to do.

The keyblader headed through the quiet, conjured halls of the Tower.  Magic, like the force of Light and Darkness, was his guide through the place.  It allowed him to think of a place to go and lead him to there or made it appear for him.  Now that Riku had gotten the hang of such a way of navigation, it didn’t require much concentration to go from one part to another.

Magic was still as unpredictable as the strength of Light and Darkness could be.

After walking the long stretch of hallway, scones holding blue flames dotted along the sunset-colored walls, Riku realized that the door to the library had yet to appear for him.  He stopped and glanced up and down the hall, focusing on where he wanted to go. It usually didn’t take but a second or two before the door would pop into existence.

Still, nothing appeared.

Riku found that strange, wondering if something was stopping it from appearing for him.  Nothing in the magical energy around him felt different from before, and he could feel his own powers too.  So, he held up his hand at the nearest wall, palm facing the yellow walls, and focused on summoning the door to the library to him.

The more he concentrated on the door appearing, the more energy he poured into his magic to summon it.  Riku even summoned some powers of Light.

Finally, he gasped and dropped his arm, seeing nothing had changed.  

After panting for a few moments at just how much energy he channeled, Riku huffed and turned away from this wall.  Maybe he should ask Master Yen Sid what might be wrong-

Riku stopped when he heard it.  A song- no, it was humming that caught his attention.  It carried down the hall, genderless to his ears and as clear as though the person was humming right next to him.  But a quick look around revealed that he wasn’t next to anyone that could have been humming. The humming still continued as the keyblader stood there and wondered if he was just hearing things from the stress of trying to find Sora.

Riku took a step to where he assumed the humming was coming from down the hall and then another step, before the humming tried to hit a higher note and failed.  He stopped and waited. The humming started up again and continued to try to hit that note, before apparently moving on to the next one.

The humming continued as Riku began to make his way down the hall without stopping.  No matter what, he was curious and determined to find out who was humming so loud in this magical tower of unknowable dimension.

Eventually though, Riku found himself humming along as he briskly walked down the hall.  

At first, he tried to stopped himself, but it was infectious song to sing.  There was some sort of magic in it, he could feel that, but the nature didn’t feel malicious or anything of the Darkness.  So, he let himself hum along with the song. Every hiccup in the note, missed or not quite hit correctly, he couldn’t help but to copy it.  Riku began to commit the melody to memory to wonder if he could do it later and might even find out what it might mean too.

Riku walked a few more steps, a few of the many he had already taken, and then noticed a door forming to his right.  He stopped in front of it, facing it, and immediately stopped humming to the melody -which Riku hadn’t realized had stopped.

The door was the same as before, when his own humming had summoned it the other day.  Bass clef and all on the dark wood.

Riku then realized with a cold shock that the humming melody he had heard and hum along to this time had been the same.

He could feel it, its own pull of magic that definitely linked the melody to the summoning of the door.  Nothing about that made any sense, of course.

The keyblader glanced down the hall both ways, carefully scanning to see if anyone else was around to have summoned it for their need.  But another part of him also didn’t want someone seeing him right now, in front of this door. Like a child sneaking into somewhere where they shouldn’t be, Riku felt that similar feeling in his gut.  Maybe this wasn’t something he wasn’t supposed to have been able to conjure up in the Tower, but here it was for him. 

All he had to do was reach forward and push it open.

Riku began to reach out for the handle of the door, almost feeling as though he was not in possession of his own body as he watched his hand reach forward.  Just as his hand brushed against the aged brass of the handle, wondering what could be behind this door-

“Master Riku!”

Riku didn’t jump, didn’t jerk his hand away from the handle like a kid caught stealing, but he did quickly look over and down the hall to see Master Yen Sid standing a few yards away and staring at him with those unwavering eyes.  Slowly, Riku pulled his hand back and straightened his back up to face the other man. He watched Yen Sid walk over to him, stopping a few steps away and then glancing to the door as well.

The master hummed out in thought, making Riku want to speak up and ask out what was behind this door.  It had been summoned through his humming of a melody he had never heard before. At least, one he couldn’t remember hearing from someone or somewhere.

“I did not mean to startle you,” Master Yen Sid finally said, slowly, “but I had become curious when you did not arrive to the library yet were trying to summon it.  I did not sense any dark pressences, but one cannot be too sure of safety and unaware.”

Ah, well, that didn’t necessarily surprise Riku that Yen Sid had been able to feel him trying to summon the room he needed.

But what about this room?

“Master Yen Sid,” as Riku spoke to him, the older man looked at him once again with now a slight curious look upon his brows, “what is behind this door?  It appeared when I was, well when I was humming. Twice. I didn’t necessarily think of a room when I was humming, but the door still appeared. It even appeared when I could not get the library door to appear.”

The wizard hummed again in thought, reaching up to stroke his long beard, “Humming what, Riku?”

“Ah, well,” Riku started, closing his mouth, and tried to recall the melody he had been humming.  His memory of how the beats went was fuzzy, even though it had just been a few minutes ago he was humming along with ease.  Eventually, he just gave up trying to remember the tune exactly and began humming what he felt was as close to it as it had been.

The melody reminded him of the tides, almost feeling the rocking sensations through his whole body as though he was on a little boat out at sea.  It reminded him when he had been young and at sea with his own parents. It reminded him of home and Sora. But then the melody shifted, adding a few more and picking the pace up as though it was running from something.  This faster pace was higher pitched, from the front of his close mouth instead of the back of his throat. It made his heart race. Then the melody he hummed mellowed back out into a slow pace, like a waltz.

Riku, having not even realized he closed his eyes in the first place, opened them back up just as he finished humming the last few notes.  His eyes were met with the view of the door again instead of Master Yen Sid, staring at it as though it was the answer to the melody. How strange.  He hadn’t even been thinking of it when he had been humming.

“Peculiar, very peculiar,” Riku heard the mutter from Master Yen Sid, glancing back over at him and wondering if he had an answer to what was happening with him now.  At least now he had proof beyond himself that humming a tune within his head -or heart- had summoned this part of the Tower.

_ Sora would find it to be an adventure, to know what was behind the door and see if it was connected to him. _

Already, Riku could picture the excited look on Sora’s face, seeing that brightness turned to him and hearing his voice cheerily say to him, “ _ Come on Riku, let’s see where this one leads to! _ ”

“Do you recognize the song, Master Yen Sid?” Riku asked instead of indulging his thoughts any longer.  Mostly because they had trailed back to the heaviness that he carried and the absence that he could feel now.

“No, that melody is not one that I am familiar with.”  Master Yen Sid stroked his beard a few times; a distant look appeared in his eyes as he did.  A moment or two passed as it appeared he had become lost in his own thoughts. “Something about it does  _ feel  _ familiar, but I am at as much as a loss as to why as you are, Riku.”  He lowered his hand back to his side, leaving it there as his wise eyes focused now back on the present and the younger man.  “It could be something in your heart, trying to remind you or telling you something.”

That was definitely something Riku hadn’t thought of.  If he couldn’t recall where he had heard that song or why he knew it, then how could it be something in his heart trying to tell him something?  If it was in his heart, then shouldn’t he knew from where it had come from?

A memory from not that long ago, two years ago, reminded him keenly that sometimes the mind may forget, but the heart  _ always  _ remembers what is important.  Who was important to the heart could never be so easily forgotten as memories faded.

But he already had his heart and mind focused on one thing at the moment, and a random tune he was humming  _ wasn’t  _ it!

“I,” he spoke, realizing he didn’t know what to say to the master that wasn’t his thoughts snapping and saying to him,  _ don’t have time for this, I have to find Sora, I can’t have something bothering me in finding him, _ “Oh.  I wonder what it is then.  What it is trying to tell me.”  It was a lie, that he cared about this melody.  Or rather, he was trying hard  _ not  _ to care about it now that he was constantly reminding himself to focus on finding Sora.

Master Yen Sid waved his hand then, and Riku thought he was being dismissed from further inquiry or questioning.  But soon he noticed the correct door, the door to the library he had been trying to get to that morning, appeared on the opposite wall from the strange door.  The library’s door opened up for him, inviting him to look at what he had been trying to do that morning. 

“Why don’t you go continue your pursuit of how to find Sora, let your mind ease away from this mystery, for now.”

It should have been a bit suspicious for Yen Sid to have summoned it now and suggest his continued search, with the conversation having taken to the strange melody and new door.  

But Riku had already forced himself to focus on his research as to where Sora could potentially be.

“Yes, of course, Master Yen Sid.”  Riku bowed before the man as per the custom before going over to the opened entrance to the library.  He gave one last look over his shoulder at the strange door with the musical note on it. Curiosity still begged to find out what was behind that door, but determination commanded that he continue his search in rescuing Sora.  Riku shut the door after walking fully inside of the library, leaving the master alone there in the hallway.

“Hmm, or what it is trying to make you remember, young Riku.”

Master Yen Sid turned away from the closed library door to then stare at this particular door.  He couldn’t quite recall to what room it belonged to. Odd, since he knew every room within the magic of his tower.  Years had granted him a wealth of magical knowledge that his keen mind narry allowed him to forget a moresol of it. 

But this door was mysteriously absent from his memories.

So, like all curious creatures, Yen Sid could not resist the pull to find out what was behind the door.  Even so many years and so much knowledge, there was something in his mind that plagued it to just know  _ what  _ was behind that door.  He took a step closer and reached over, grasping the handle and pushing the door open.

Inside was a relatively small room, compared to the library and many other well-used rooms, and comparable to the size of his own study.  But, unlike his neat and orderly study, there was a sheen of dust upon the clutter scattered about this room. Apparently, the room had seen no use in quite some time, and the brooms hadn’t been able to come in to keep it clean.  

Odd even still, since he could not recall having sealed the room or forbidding his enchanted helpers to not go inside.  

He walked in a few more steps.  His robes kicked up the dust on the ground into a cloud behind him.  Yen Sid stopped in the middle of the room, which was where the only remaining walk space ended.  He glanced around the room, trying to gauge what this room’s former use was. But all he could see were musical instruments laying in disuse, sheets of music on an abandoned desk, and strange, swirling markings upon the wall.  At first, one ill-trained would assume they were music notes. But the drastic curves and sharp lines proved that they weren’t  _ quite  _ musical notes of common practice.  There was an inharmonious look about them that made Master Yen Sid hum to himself again, before he was turning and leaving the room back to its disuse peace.

Even after shutting the door to the apparent music room behind him, Yen Sid’s mind held a curiosity that sent in him a walk back towards his own personal study.  Surely, he would have something written in one of his tomes about such a room. The room had felt too familiar to write it off as though it was a simple mistake or a forgotten memory no longer of use.  Yen Sid could feel a sense within his mind so full of knowledge and wisdom tell him one thing that he felt the most certain about that music room.

It had felt like walking back into a dream he once had long ago.

The feeling didn’t make much sense to him, of course.  But, nonetheless, he still wanted to know if there were any clues about the room’s origins.

Of course, he did not realize that he wasn’t the only one further curious about such a room too.

 

_.~.~.~.~ _

 

Later, once the “evening” time of the Mysterious Tower set in with the sconce lights taken on a dark blueish-green hue to their flames, Riku found that he couldn’t stop thinking about the room and needed to know what was inside of it as well.  His research to where Sora could be, what could have happened to him, hadn’t turned up much. Just the continued fact that whatever had happened to him wasn’t something good, if Chirithy’s word were to be taken for what the Dream Eater knew. Hearts in imbalance rarely ended well off.  But nothing more than warnings of not letting that happened were given to Riku. So, therefore, he really hadn’t learned much more than that morning.

So, he figured that sateting his curious, nagging thoughts about the musical note door could be ended once he knew what was inside the room.

After cracking open his door, peeking outside to make sure he wouldn’t be spotted by any magical works or anyone else that might come through, he opened his door up even further and stepped out into the hall.  

Now, of course, he didn’t need to actually go far once he started down the hallway.  The magical essences of the tower flowed all around him as he moved down the hall, hoping to get to one of the remote parts before stopping.  Another quick glance around, seeing still no one or nothing in sight, and Riku soon steeled himself and tried to hum that summoning melody again.

The melody was still not something he remembered, but it apparently was still the correct one as the door appeared like it had twice before.  Once more, the dark wood door with the bass clef stood before him, almost waiting for him to open it up and peer inside.

_ This isn’t going to help me find Sora _ , Riku thought, knowing it wouldn’t.  This was just for him.

_ But, maybe, just maybe… _

The young keyblade master reached forward and grasped the handle to push it open.  Inside was what Master Yen Sid had seen before, though it was the first time for Riku.  

A dusty and disused music room, void of any signs of movement or life in what could have been years or many, many more than that.  Dust covered everything, musical instruments left uncovered and abandoned, and strange, scrawling music notes littered the walls.

Riku’s eyes scanned over the musical instruments left about on small stands, seeing nothing stand out that was necessarily out of the ordinary.  The musical sheets he spotted on the ground here and there looked to be normal ones as well. It is what was on the wall that really was the most interesting aspect of the room.  None of the notes looked in any way familiar to him as to what musical notes  _ should  _ look like.  They looked more like a mess of musical notes.

_ Odd, why would that melody summon this room for me? _  Riku continued to look around for any clues, but his glancing search turned up nothing.  Nothing in this room appeared to be of any real use to him.

How...disappointing.

A long, tired sigh left his lips.  After a fruitless search within Master Yen Sid’s library and now this dead end room, Riku felt as though he had taken two steps forward and then three back.  It would be nearly of week of no real way in finding Sora besides half-clues and cryptic information from a Dream Eater.

“Sora, I’m sorry,” he murmured out into the dusty, quiet room, sighing.  His shoulders dropped low as it felt like all of his energy was sucked out.  Riku was tired, but he knew he couldn’t give up.

Soon, quietly and really without thinking, he began to hum that strange melody once more inside of the room.  Nothing really felt like he should do it, but he didn’t stopped once he realized what he was doing. Nothing appeared to happen.

At first.

Then, as the melody turned to the more sour notes that he still hummed obediently, the strange musical notes upon the war began to glow a dark reddish-purple color.  It didn’t look like to be a good sign, but Riku still continued to hum to see what exactly would happen. He hummed and hummed, continuing the still, messy beats that didn’t sound right but apparently had been enough to summon this room.

The room, however, appeared to have other thoughts about such a melody to be sung inside of it.

Riku felt a strong force quite forcibly shove him out of the room.  Stumbling back into the opposite wall, he watched as the door to the strange room slam shut right in front of him and making a clicking, locked sound.  Riku couldn’t stop staring at the door, wondering what had just happened. Had the room not like the melody hummed inside? Was it not the right tune or sound?

What Riku did know, now, was that Master Yen Sid definitely needed to hear about what had just happened.

After pushing himself off the wall, he began hurrying down the hall to get to the main staircase that would lead him right up to the master’s study.  Rarely did Master Yen Sid sleep, or at least not at any time that Riku had noticed. So, that meant he didn’t have to wait to share his experience.

Something about what had just happened had to mean something!

 

**< ~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<~<**

 

Riku watched as Master Yen Sid continued to sit in his study chair with his eyes closed deep in thoughts.  He wanted to ask what was on the other’s mind, especially when he summoned most of the keybladers of Light to his tower.  

Master Yen Sid had done so after Riku had told him what happened last night.  Riku explained what had happened, when the humming had triggered the strange not-musical notes to glow, and then being pushed out of the room immediately after doing so.  The older man listened to it all, face betraying nothing about his thoughts, before he nodded once and told Riku that it definitely was something that he felt was connecting Riku to that room.  He also implied that it might also be connected to Sora somehow too.

_ “How?” Riku asked, desperation in his voice to know what that connection was and to find a way to tap into it to lead him to Sora. _

_ “I do not know yet, but I do believe that, since your heart is so focused on his own Light, that it is still leading you to him through the correct means.  Those means may be not fully understandable to us now, but in time it will be,” the master explained while not explaining really anything about what had just happened to Riku, “Go back to your room and get some more slumber.  In the morning, we will continue to investigate this.” _

_ Riku stared at the older man, wanting to demand better answers than just that vague explanation, but he did not want to incur what that refusal may entitle him.  So, he bowed before the older master and left the room with the anxious thoughts running through his head over the fact that he might be on the path to Sora.  _

_ A path through an unknown he could not navigate. _

Now, in what passed as the “morning” within the Mysterious Tower, Riku returned to Master Yen Sid’s study, dressed appropriately for the day and surprised to see that the study was already occupied.  All present faces glanced to him as he continued to enter the room after stopping once he opened the door. After shutting it, then they all returned to look to Master Yen Sid. A few, like Aqua, Ven, and Kairi, had given him soft smiles before turning to face the older, seated man once more.

“Now that Master Riku is present, we can further discuss what may be occurring in his search for still-missing Sora.”

“You have a lead now?  Or a way to find him?” Ven quickly asked, the first to do so here.  It didn’t surprise Riku when he was, instead of Kairi, since Riku would have told her immediately if he had found anything like that about Sora.

Well, everything that hadn’t been the strange room last night.

“I don’t know if it is a lead or not, maybe a way to find him.  I- Master Yen Sid and I have not fully discussed just all that it could mean beyond that it may be a pull in the connection of our hearts to him.”

Riku watched Ven worry at his bottom lip, a nervous habit that Riku had seen on a younger Sora.  Both Aqua and Terra looked a little more confused by what he said, which didn’t really surprise Riku.  He knew he didn’t make much sense, but that’s what everything that just had happened in the past few days had come down to.  A connection to Sora that apparently was trying to make itself known, somehow and some way.

“What did you find out then?” Aqua asked, voice soft though still wanting to know what they could do more to find the missing friend of theirs.  The rest all nodded their heads, eager to learn more to hopefully help find their friend.

Riku knew they all wanted to help and was glad to have such help.  He knew he would need it. The past few days of searching by himself led him to believe that trying to do it alone wasn’t going to work any further.  It hadn’t yielded results yet. Therefore it must not be the right course of action. 

So, now, Riku began to explain what had occurred the previous evening with the strange room and the start tune that he had hummed to summon it.  He also went on to add, even though he could see that Ven ducked his head a bit when he did, what Chirithy had told him as well. Aqua looked to Ven, a shocked surprise on her face that meant she couldn’t believe her friend hadn’t told her what the Dream Eater had known.  But Riku still continued on explaining regardless until all of his findings, so few of them, had been laid out before them through his speakings.

No one present spoke up to add to what he had just finished explaining.

Riku knew that this would have been the most likely result of telling them all.  Not that he doubted their abilities or their willingness to help find Sora, but he felt in his heart that they wouldn’t know anything more.  That all he would have to show for his search was bad nightmares, a vague knowledge from Chirithy, and now this strange room. He thought maybe, just maybe, that King Mickey might have something to add.

“That doesn’t sound like anything I have seen before, Riku.  Gosh, I’m real sorry.”

Riku couldn’t stop the disappointment from welling up inside of him.  He hoped so much that Mickey might have an answer, though he knew realistically that the King wouldn’t have all the answers he needed.  The mouse was just one being of Light. If Master Yen Sid hadn’t known anything more also, what were the chances of anyone else present would know anything?

“And this is suppose to help us find Sora?” Kairi questioned, though she looked to be sharing similar feelings as Riku felt right now.  That kinship of empty results made them both feel as though they were failing at being best friends with Sora. Riku knew it wasn’t her fault about what happened, had to keep reminding himself too about it.

Because honestly, he felt that it was all his fault.  “I’m sorry, I really wish there was more…”

“It’s okay, Riku,” Kairi answered back, voice softer when talking to him and reaching over to also add a soft touch against his arm, “You’re doing all that you can, and we both believe in finding him.”  Her eyes held that similar trust and belief in him, and it made Riku want to ask her “Why?” she could easily say that when he felt like nothing could be done else.

“What was the tune?” Terra asked, getting Riku’s attention, “The melody you were humming?”

“Well, I don’t really know what the song is or where I had heard it, but…”  Riku began to hum once more, trying to let the melody flow through him instead of conjuring up the song that apparently he knew somehow.  At first, the melody didn’t feel quite right like it had before. But then slowly, the feeling changed to one that felt more familiar to him.  Letting the music flow through him without really thinking about performing the melody and how it went, Riku felt as though it was taking over himself again as he hummed.  The vibrations from his throat spreading out throughout all of him.

Distantly, the joining sounds of Kairi’s softer hums added to the melody.  Hers was not the only one to join in, Riku heard the others present joining in too.  The melody felt more powerful now that there were multiple people humming it, adding to its rhythmic sound than just by himself.

As they continued to hum the song, Riku, who had shut his eyes sometime after starting, felt a pull in his chest.  Within his heart, a spark of something in the connections to all of those present and in his heart burned bright. It continued to burn so brilliant, lightening up the flow of Light between them all.

Then, Riku felt a distant pull in his heart, a pull from somewhere far along the connections he shared.  It felt so strong, pulling at his heart to lead him  _ somewhere _ , and it was then Riku realized that it had to be Sora-

There was a break in the connection.  A harsh, breaking stop to the humming brought them out of the almost trance-like state it had created among them all.  With that break, also came another surprise for Riku, as well as everyone else within the study.

A screeching of a sound like nails against metal made them all wince as a creature unseen before appeared upon Master Yen Sid’s desk.  It looked almost to be like a mini conductor, though it was definitely rotund in shape and a mismatch of colors. The harsh screeching continued, as though the creature was trying to talk.

All the keybladers present moved back and summoned their weapons, pointing them at the creature.

All, however, except for Riku.  Who stared at this creature and wondered: Just what was it?  Why did it appear when he could feel a pull from Sora’s end of the connection between their hearts?  Could this creature be a part of wherever Sora might be?

The final question he thought before a cage of magical essence sprung up from a wave of Master Yen Sid’s hand came like the rest of his questioning thoughts.

Why did the noise it made not only hurt his ears to hear but also his heart too?


End file.
